Cultivator



Sept. 1, 1931. M N 1,821,370

GULTIVATOR Filed March 10, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Spt. l, 1931. v I c. D. AMMON v1,821,370

CULTIVATOR Filed March lO,' 1930 2 Sheets-$heet 2 m tivator for scarifying the soil immediately by means of bolts 15. The. diverging metal 60 being beveled and sharpened on both of its The rotary'chopping reelitself includes a 65 Patented Sept. 1, 1931 p s UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application filed March 10, 1920. Serial No. 434,782.

. My invention relates to combined cultiranumeral 10. This is provided with the usual tors, weed killers and mulchers, its object cross arm 11 which is anchored to the end of being the provision of an improvement in the the handle. 10 by means of theU bolt 12 passcultivators at present in use. ing through the cross arm 11 and the handle Another ofmy objects is the provision of 10 and secured thereto by means of a pair of 55 a soil working implement which is adapted nuts 13.

to be operated in either direction. In thesingle form of hoe as shown in Fig- Another of my objects is the provision of ures 1 and 3, a pair of diverging straps 14 is a rotary chopping reel combined with a. culsecured to the handle 10 at its lower extremity after the hoe has broken the soil crust. straps are slightly inturned at their lower ex- Another of my objects is the provision of 'tremities at 16. The straps lt are provided a flat bladed hoe which is adapted to follow with apertures 17 which serve as bearings for the rotary chopping reel, the fiat bladed hoe the axle 18 of the rotary hoe 19.

edges so that it may be reversed in the impair of spaced spiders 20 whichare rot-atably plement mounted on the axle 18. The two spiders are Another of my objects is the provision of a also held in rigidly spaced apart relation by chopping reel which is adapted to be posimeans of any suitable braces and by the chop- 2o tioned in either direction with either the ping blades 21 which are secured at their flat bladed hoe or the cultivating shovels in extremities to the peripheral portions of the the rear of the rotary chopping reel and with spiders 20, the blades being anchored in the leaf guards which are adjustable into operaspiders as shownin Figure 5 or secured theretive position for either direction of. travel to by any other suitable means. These blades of the rotary chopping reel. f a are inclined with reference to the axle 18. It

Another of my ob'ects is the provision of is apparent that the motion of the implement an improved form of leaf guard which more will cause the rotary chopping reel to revolve effectively protects the plants in adjacent about its axis and to break up the crust of the rows and prevents their beingcut by the soil soil. Since-"the blades 21 are inclined, their 30 working tools. forward ends will engage the soil first so as j Having in view these objects and'others to produce an obliquecut in the soil'crust, the which will be pointed out in the following soil crust being further broken up by other description, 1 will now refer to the drawblades 21- which engage it. The blades may, ings, in which however, be positioned in parallelism with the 35 Figure 1 is a plan View of the implement reel axis. It will alsobe apparent that the 35 with the single form of rotary chopping implement may be pushed or pulled in either reel. direction and that the blades will operate in Figure 2 is a plan view showing the'double an equally effective manner regardless of the form of my rotary chopping reel. direction in which theimplement is pushed 0 Figure 3 is a view in perspective of the .or pulled. For this reasonthe blades 21 have frame of the single rotary chopping reel. I their cutting edges beveled on both sides as Figure 4: is a similar'perspective view otshown in Figure 5. the "frame of the double rotary chopping reel. The cultivator shovel frame is in general in Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the U, form consisting of a single strap having 45 rotary chopping reel, a portion of the handleside members 22 connected with a transverse being broken away. portion 23 at the rear. The port1on 23 1s Figure 6 is a side elevationalview of a n'eferably turnedm at 1ts middle point as portion of the implement showing particushown in F1gure3 1n orderto provide the larly the form of the leaf guard. desired off-set relation between the cultivat- 50 The implement handle is designated by the ing tools 24 in the manner shown in Figure 3.

The side members 22 are rigidly secured to the straps 14 at points above the bearings 17 but they may also be secured through the bearings. In order to make this connection more rigid, a brace 25 connects the rear member 23 with the handle 10. The connection betweenthe brace 25 and the handle 10 is a fixed connection but the lower connection is releasable by means of a bolt, the strap 25. being provided with a plurality of apertures as shown in Figure 3 for adjusting the inclination of the handle 10. If the implement is then used with the parts in the position shown in Figures and 6, therotary chopping reel will first break up the soil crust and the cultivating shovels 24 will'then follow to stir up the surface soil and to produce a dust mulch by reducing the broken up surface crust.

The flat blade of the hoe 26 is U-shaped, its end portions being rigidly secured to the axle 18. T he hoe 26 is beveled and sharpened on both of its edges throughout its entire length. Since the connection of the hoe with the axle 18 is a releasable one, it is possible to remove the hoe 26 when one edge becomes dull and to reverse its position in the implement so as to bring the new edge into play. This hoe 26 is brought into play only by turning the handle about its axis. with the rotary hoe 19 so as to raise the cultivating shovels and so as to lower the hoe 26 until it is in engagement with the surface of the soil. The implement will then rest on the blades of the rotary chopping reel and onthe transverse edge of the flat hoe 26. The pushing of the implement with the hoe 26 in the rear will then cause the rotary chopping reel to perform in its usual manner after which the flathoe shaves the upper portion of the soil and destroys all weeds in its path. The transverse portion of the hoe 25 is necessarily spaced from the rotary hoe but an adjustment is provided which permits changes in the position of the hoe 26 so that it is either nearer to or farther away from 7 the rotary hoe. This adjustment includes a plurality of apertures 27 or slots in the side members of the hoe 26 and through which the hoe 26 is adapted for attachment to the axle 18.

The leaf guards are in the form shown in Figure 6. lhey include straps 28 which are pivotally secured to the implement, preferably either at the points wi ere the arms 22 are secured to the straps 14 or at the axisof the reel. Each strap has secured thereto a plurality of ll-shaped members 29 which have sufficient length so that they will function readily in keeping the leaves or other parts of the plants in the adjacent rows away from the soil working tools. Since the con nection of; the straps 28 with the implement frame is a pivotal connection, the leaf guards 29 may readily be turned into either of two positions to protect the adjacent plants from either the cultivating tools-24 or the hoe 26.

The free ends of the leaf guards 29 are slightly inturned and since their material is resilient they may readily be latched into inoperative position when so desired.

The rotary chopping reel is adapted for use between two adjacent rows of plants but it is not adapted to straddle a row of plants. The modification contemplated in my Figures 2 and 4 adapts this implement for such use. The only modification is in the implement frame shown in Figure 4, the structure of the rotary chopping reel and of its frame being the same as that for the single hoe. The handle 30 and the cross arm 31 correspond to the handle 10 and the cross arm 11. The fastening means comprising the U bolt 32 and the nuts 33 are identical With those in the single hoe. In the place of the straps 14 are two looped straps 3% having both of their ends connected to the handle 30. These looped straps 34 are connected to U-shaped straps 3 1a having forward inturned ends. The manner of attachment between the straps 34 and 34a is shown in Figure 2. The looped straps 34 are provided with slots 35 which re; ceive bolts having thumb nuts 36, the pur-" pose of this construction being to provide for lateral adjustn'ient of the rotary chopping reel on the implement frame. The rotary chopping reels themselves are identical in structure with those of the single hoe type. Where it'is desired to cultivate the full Width of the strips of soil between rows,'the hoes may have the same width as the hoe 19. In

cultivating adjacent strips by straddling the -100 row it is generally customary to cultivate only part of the strip, leaving the other part to be cultivated when the implement straddles .the adjacent row. The width of the rotary chopping reel, however, is immaterial since;

it may be built in any width to meet the desired conditions.

Extending rearwardly from the straps 3460 are U-shaped straps 37 which serve as supports for the cultivating tools 38. In order; to support the cultivating tools 39, supports are provided, these being in the form of Z-shaped straps secured to the straps 37. By this means the cultivating tool 39 is in the rear of the cultivating tool 38. Secured to 61Cl133115 strap 40 is a strap 41, the two straps 41 meeting immediately beneath the handle 30 as shown in Figure l. The brace 42 1s secured at its upper extremity to the handle 30 and it is provided with notches or with a plug:

rality of apertures for providing a vertical adjustment of the straps41.

lVith the double implement shown in Figures 2 and 4 and as above described, it is possible to straddle a row of plants and to;

cultivate on both sides thereof. hen the plants are; small the two rotary hoes may be adjusted towardeach other so as to leave a small space between them. lVith the larger plants and especially with those of largert;

leaves, it is desirable that the two rotary hoes be spaced a greater distance apart to not only avoid the unnecessary labor of cultivating beneath the leaves but so as to prevent injury to the plants.

As before stated the rotary chopping reels with their immediate frames are identical in both the single and the double forms. The intnrned ends 16 support the flat blade 26 in rigid relation while in the double form the inturned ends of the straps 34a support the flat hoes 42 in a like manner. In the double form of hoe the rotary chopping reel consists of a pair of spiders 43 with obliquely positioned blades 44 connecting the spiders. The relationship between the rotary chopping reel itself and the flat hoe42 as well as the relationship between the rotary chopping reel and the cutivating tools 38 and 39 is identical with the similar relationships in the single hoe. The leaf guards 45 are similar tothe leaf guards 39 and they function in the same manner. Owing to the more confined space for pivotal movement in the double hoe, the leaf guards 45 may generally be made somewhat smaller than the leaf guards 29. The leaf guards on the outer sides of the two hoes in the double form of implement may generally be removed entirely except when the space between rows of plants is but very little greater than the width of the hoes.

Having thus described my invention in such full, clear, and exact terms that its construction and operation will be readily understood by others skilled in the art to which it pertains, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An implement including a rotary member adapted to be rolled over the surface of the soil, a push handle having a pair of fork members at the lower end portion thereof, said fork members straddling said rotary'member, said rotary member being journalled to said fork members, the extremities of said fork members being inturned, and a U-shaped mulching hoe secured to said fork members and to said rotary member at the axis of the journal thereof, the end portions of said mulching hoe being seated against the inturned end portions of said fork members.

2. An implement including a rotary member adapted to be rolled over the surface of the soil, a push handle having a pair of fork members at the lower end portion thereof, said fork members straddling said rotary member. said rotary member being journalled V to said fork members, the extremities of said fork members being inturned, a U-shaped mulching hoe secured tosaid fork members and to said rotary member at the axis of the journal thereof, the end portions of said mulching hoe being seated against the inturned end portions of said fork members, and means for adj ustably spacing said mulching hoe from the periphery of said rotary member.

3. An implement including a rotary member adapted to be rolled over the surface of the soil in either of two opposite directions, a push handle having, a pairof fork members at the lower end portion, thereof for straddling said rotary member, said rotary member being journalled to said fork members, the extremities of said fork members being inturned, and a U-shaped mulching hoe secured to said fork members and to said rotary member at the axis of the journal thereof and having an angular relationship with said fork members, the end portions of said mulching hoe beingseated against the interned end portions of said fork members, the mulching hoe being operative in one direction of propulsion and inoperative in the I other direction.

111 testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CHARLES D. AMMON.

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